


The Babysitting Mission

by chefke



Series: Kanan and Hera Tidbits [2]
Category: Star Wars: Rebels, kanan/hera - Fandom, kanera
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-03-19 03:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3595347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chefke/pseuds/chefke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ok so basically I read over this work and realized there were a ton of grammar errors so I sat and fixed it all and realized I had posted the drafted versions of the story. If you re-read you will find snippets you hadn't read before.</p><p>Hera and Kanan are mystified by an unseen intruder on their ship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 'Kanan it's not a big deal. It's one mission.'

She looked up at him. Under his race of fury was a thin layer of sweat. He had clearly just done some sort of workout.

' there's no need to pout. Your not a child.'

'I'm being treated like a child.' He muttered. He squared his shoulders and turned to face her. ' i don't understand why I am being left behind. This is ridiculous. We could both go-'

'No. Im going undercover to infiltrate the new commanding officer of the agricrops. He happens to be attracted to women not men.' She scanned him up and down. 'No dice.'

'I'm not laughing. Its dangerous and your going in alone.'

'You feel left out? Think of it this way if I dont make it out you can have all the rest of the missions to yourself.' She smiled at him. His face went white as if he has just realized there was a possibility of her not coming back.

'Kanan' she reached a hand out to him but he retreated quickly.

'I..'  she didnt know what to say. She couldn't say it would be alright. It might not be. She never sugar coated things. What was Kanan doing to her? If she wasnt careful she'd end up with a adoption agency with little tempermental kids running around. She shivered.

'Are you scared?' Kanan was looking at her with big eyes his lips pressed together in a hard line.

'No. Just thought of a bunch of kids running around here. Fighting yelling, blowing my things up. Gonna have nightmares forsure. Remind me never to never open a foster home.' She looked up to see his scowl had vanished and had beem replaced by a wry smile.

'I saw this couple on a Spacer once hysterical because they let their daughter dye a purple streak in her hair. Purple Hera.' He kicked up his feet and mused to himself. Hera sat down next to him. He opened his palm and she slid her palm in his.

'It will be ok.'


	2. chapter 2

Hera hurried down the walkway. She was twenty minutes early. That was good. It was really hard to walk in heels. Why didnt Commanding officers like flight uniforms and flats?

She felt guilty leaving Kanan. He looked genuinely upset before she left. He had a hard time with getting attached to anything. Once he did get attached it was as if he expected it to be taken from him. Hera shivered at the thought. She would be fine.

She carefully loaded all the drinks and snacks onto her hover cart. She was handing them out carefully to each of the officials on the isle. There were seven. One was her target. She was going to have to get him in and out before anyone noticed anything. She watched as everyone drank their drinks. She checked her timer. Three minutes and they would all be sleeping. At the two minute mark the whole cabin was sleeping. Hera was confused maybe the target had not gotten the message? Hera quickly made copies of every data pad and secured her it to her flight dress. Completely useless.

Now she had to figure out who her target was. She heard a shuffle behind her and turned to see the door to the Pilot station open.

'Looking for me?' There was a young male human sitting in the seat with what looked like a knocked out Imperial officer next to him. She smiled and headed over to him. She liked him already.

'You made it hard for me to find you.' 

'We have a slight problem. The imperials seemed to have figured out I was up to something and put a tracker in the back of my neck. As long as I am awake I need to be within fifty feet of the sleeping beauty over there.' Hera frowned. She hated complications.

'OK. I feel like you have a plan.'

'Have any more of that juice?' Twenty minutes later she was pushing a hover crate down the streets of Mos Isley. She had dropped the Imperial officers of on the side of a dump yard and secured each Imperial officer in a hover cart. Her new contact had done pretty much all of the lifting while she flew the ship. He had climbed into the last hover cart and drank some of the 'sleepy juice.' He was considerate enough to not make her carry him. That was nice. Not that she couldn't have carried him but it was still nice.

She looked around she was almost at her drop site. He had agreed on a different site and Kanan had agreed on another site but she was concerned he might have a tracker embedded in him so she was taking him to an abandoned building with sewage tunnels underneath that she could tunnel out of. There were several other exits but this was her preferred exit. She carefully opened the side of the hover cart and unloaded the Pilot. Gently she laid him on his stomach tilting his head so he could breath. As she prepared the med supplies she realized she didn't know his name. If she didn't do this right he could be paralyzed or worse. She took a deep breath and started to work. The chip was more sophisticated then anything she had ever seen. She pulled it out with ease and scanned his rest of his body for trackers. She found two. One in his right leg and one in his wrist. She quickly removed those.

As she was finishing his wrist she heard footsteps upstairs. Multiples walking side by side. Imperials. She quickly sprayed his closed wounds with Kolto and swung one arm over his shoulder she headed for the sewer. She did a scan with her arm and found four life forms down there. Alarmed she did a full scan. Humans. More Imperials. She wouldn't be able to outrun them holding the Pilot. She grabbed his arm and continued towards the back exit. Blast it! They were freaking surrounded. She checked her comm and only heard static. Seriously? How important was this guy? Fulcrum seemed to think he was important but he was just a pilot....

She mentally did a scan of the building in her head. The over head air ducts. That was the only way out. How in a hutts backside was she going to haul this human who was twice her weight with her down a over head air duct??! And she had to do it quietly because the whole fracking armada was here.

Today was not her day.

She could hear the Troops marching under her. She was moving the Pilot painfully slowly down the air duct. One of the vent exits ended up near  factories deposits. As long as they stayed there the Imperials wouldn't catch them. She held her breath as a group made its rounds underneath her. She could see them from tiny slots in the ceiling. Suddenly she felt a shift next to her. Then a groan. She clapped her hands over the pilots mouth as a woke up from his sleep. He was quiet immediately. He looked into her eyes and then down to her hand clapped over his mouth. She pointed down and he saw the Imperials. He lifted his hand to hers and released his mouth, Hera suddenly felt uncomfortable. They were really close together. Galaxies; they were practically lying on each other. Kanan would not like this.

The Troops were looking for the source of the noise. He carefully lifting his left leg to reveal a circular leg bracelet. Hera mentally cursed herself for not thinking. They were still tracking him. In two seconds he crashed through the ceiling and pulled the leg bracelet. It was a gun. Oh, genius. It looked like part of his boot. He shot all four Bucket heads before they had a chance to reach for their comms. He lifted up a helmet and waved enthuisiastically. 

'How do you feel about Clanker dress up?' Hera smiled and took the helmet. It took a lot of odd marching and extremely uncomfortable squishing of her head tails but they walked out of the front door twenty minutes later. They had to make a round with another troop so as not to look suspicious after they were out in the street. They had just separated from the group when Hera tapped on the Pilot's shoulder. Hera was started to feel dizzy from the pressure of the helmet.

'I need to get this off. I can't breath. I need room for my head tails.' She whispered as they walked through the market. He nodded and walked off a side road in an alley. Carefully Hera removed her helmet and breathed the now cool and fresh air. 

'You ok? Take as much time as you need.' He asked. She was leaning against a wall.

'Yes, just way too small in there. I'm good now.' He smiled at her and offered her a hand to help her stand.

'OK. Let's go find your friend. I need to see the Fulcrum.'


	3. Chapter 3

Kanan was officially worried. Hera should have checked in now. She missed the drop site and her comm was sending her static. Where was she? That mornings conversation was now fresh in his mind and terrified thoughts were running through his head.

Where was she?

 

He closed his eyes and started to meditate. She was not alone but she did not trust her companion. He pushed his senses out and felt them to be relatively close. He pulled the Phantom out of it's concealed spot and started to fly towards her. He could see her walking dressed as a storm trooper with another storm trooper. Must have been their contact. He parked the Phantom on a roof and quietly crawled down a drain pipe and followed them.


	4. Chapter 4

Hera knew Kanan would be worried but she didn't know enough about this pilot to bring him on the ship. 

'I will make contact with the Fulcrum once we have cleared the planet.' He looked up and gave her a puzzled look.

'The Fulcrum is not here?'

'No.' He seemed to frown at this and was deep in thought.

'I didn't catch your name.'

'Myriss. Myriss Otell. I am flight officer for the Imperial Army. I was previously a cataloger in the Imperial Archives.' Hera looked up at this. There had been serious breach at the Imperial Archives recently. As if reading her thoughts he responded.

'I worked there with my wife Limsa. She was cataloging remains of...' he looked around and when he was sure there was no one listening he continued. ' Jedi. Jedi that the Imperials found and killed. She found something dangerous and she blew an entire building of artifacts killing herself with it. Not before she gave me something. A box. She told me I needed to find the Fulcrum and bring it to the Fulcrum. After her death I was put on flight duty and put on 24/7 surveillance. They knew I had nothing to do with the explosion; that they still think is an accident but they wanted to keep tabs on me just in case.' 

Hera felt crushed. So many lost their lives in the fight against the Imperials. This poor man lost his wife.

'I am sorry for your loss. Can I see the box?'

He handed her a clear box with gold edges. She had never seen anything so beautiful before.

'Do you know what it is?' He asked.

'I am not sure. But I am sure the Fulcrum will. Let's hurry it is going to be dark soon. It gets cold here at night.' As they turned the corner they saw the plaza was filled with storm troopers. They both retreated immediately. 

'Your going to need to put that helmet back on. We are going to have to sneak around them.' he said.

'You can.' Said a familiar voice behind them. 'or you can come with me. I have much better fashion sense.' Hera smiled. Of course Kanan had found her. Myron drew his circular weapon and she laid a hand on his. 

'This is Kanan my crew. Oh and my name is Hera by the way. Let's go before we get caught.'

 

Hera was safely in the Phantom when she asked Chopper and Zeb (their newest recruit) for a status update. It seemed like there was a blockade.

'They really don't want you leaving with that box. Can we fly around them?' Myriss simply shrugged. Hera landed the Phantom on the Ghost. She was going to need to fly her head tails off to get them on off of this planet. Kanan and Zeb headed to the firing pits and Chopper headed to his own station. This was going to be a close one. She had Myriss sitting next to her with his own guns aimed to fire. Her shields were up and everyone was in position.

They reached the blockade and Hera held her breath and then ... flew straight through. No one stopped them and no one fired. They flew straight through the blockade. An Imperial Blockade. Something was wrong. What had happened? Hera entered hyperspace but changed her coordinates just before they took off. Zeb had gone to sleep in his room and Myriss went to sleep in the spare bunk. It was pretty bare but he was fine with that. Hera started to run system checks to make sure they hadn't been bugged or tagged. There was not going to be any sleeping tonight.

 

~~~

 

Hera went into her own room and turned to see Kanan slipping into her room. He put one hand over her mouth and motioned for her to follow. Quietly she held his hand as they went down the hallway. Suddenly Kanan stopped short and pushed her against the wall and started to kiss her. Bewildered and shocked she kissed him back. Her brain shorted out and her senses went on overdrive. She had no idea what was happening but she never wanted it to stop. His lips were soft and gentle and he smelled like trees and Junipee flowers that grew on Ryloth.

Suddenly she heard a noise from behind her. Chopper and Myriss were playing Pazzak at the table about a foot away from where they were standing. Coughing and purple Hera muttered apologies as Kanan pretended to look embarrassed and physically pulled her into the Fresher room. Hera was officially beyond confused. What was happening? Was he jealous of Myriss? Was that why he was finally after all these years making his move? She looked at him quizzically as he turned on the shower. He placed one hand on her mouth as she opened it to ask him what he was doing and he pulled off his shirt and deliberately dropped it on the floor. He picked up his shirt and repeated the process three times. He had removed his hand from his mouth and she mouthed out WHAT ARE YOU DOING? He motioned for her to be quiet. The room was all steamy and warm and Kanan's abs shone with moisture. Carefully he went to the mirror and wrote on it. Leaving Hera free to look at him from behind.

'WE HAVE A SPY ON THE SHIP' He turned to look at her his muscle flexing with his stressed looking face. Look at his face Hera whispered to herself. Look at his face.

The steam quickly erased it so Hera could write back and possibly pray her face wasnt yellow with embarrasment. Keep looking at his face. Nothing else to see. Look at his face.

'WHAT? YOU THINK MYRISS IS A SPY?'

'I DONT KNOW BUT I SAW A TRANSMISSION GO OUT BEFORE WE HIT THE SURFACE.' Hera looked at his face incredulously. Was he jealous? Why would Myriss betray them? He had been with her and he wasn't doing anything or acting strangely. She had been quick to trust him but that was because he was her. Fighting for what remained of his family.

'YOU DONT TRUST HIM?'

'I DONT KNOW. HE WAS WITH YOU.' Now she was mad. Was he accusing her of something. As if he had read her mind he quickly started writing again.

'I TRUST YOU BUT THERE IS SOMETHING OFF ON THIS SHIP. I DONT NEED THE FORCE TO TELL ME THAT.' She looked at him quizzically her gaze slipping down and then darting back up again.

'WHAT DO WE DO?' A wicked smile crept up his face. He started to draw some very rude and honestly impossible drawing on the mirror. I guess serious times were over. Hera sighed. Sometimes....

'YOU NEED TO GO IN THE SHOWER' She wrote. She saw his whole face light up.

'JUST YOUR HAIR. IT NEEDS TO BE WET. SO WE DONT LOOK SUSPICIOUS.' He was still smiling and pulling her towards him as he was stepping back to the shower.

'No' she whispered. She had no idea where they stood and this information was mind blowing to her. If it wasn't Myriss who else would betray them? Willingly or unwillingly?

Twenty minutes later Kanan had convinced Hera not only to wash his hair but to give him a massage and a hair cut. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. She had to admit so was she. She made Kanan turn around as she stripped quickly and wrapped a towel around herself. She had tried to use all of her self control not to peek at Kanan while he was in the shower. Tried. She had no idea how much self control he had but she had hoped it was more than she had. 


	5. Chapter 5

Hera and Kanan decided not to use comms and spend the next several days sleeping in the same room. Kanan slept on the floor and Hera slept in her bed. He seemed to be sleeping in a ready-to-fight pose. Hera doubted if he was sleeping at all. Zeb who was fairly new to the crew didn't comment on their new living space. They spent the time, to Kanan's dismay going over the days plans. There was definitely someone sending information to the outside. The scary part was for the first three days they watched Myriss like a hawk and he did nothing out of the ordinary. All the transmissions were sent when one of them was with him. That left Chopper and Zeb. Hera was crushed by the idea of quiet Zeb betraying them and how could Chopper betray them? He was a droid. So who was it?! It wasn't either of them....

They were becoming more and more confused. Hera had cut her line with Fulcrum to stop whomever had infiltrated them from getting any information about Fulcrum. They were back in hyperspace now. They had made up another bogus mission and were spending most of their time in space. They were running out of supplies and would have to stop on an actual planet soon.

 

'Hera.' Kanan whispered. He was sitting next to her on her bed. She looked up at him and saw that he was holding the square box from Myriss. Kanan put one finger over his mouth and motioned for her to follow him to the floor in the corner of the room. It was a tight space but they fit. Barely.  She sat down opposite Kanan and he pulled the box out of the cloth he had been holding it in. He carefully put it in his hand and it floated it in the air. Different images started to flash around them. Star maps with supply runs, bases, and other symbols she didn't recognize. 

Carefully she looked up and mouthed, 'What is it?' He removed his hand from the box letting it drop into his other hand. He quickly pocketed it. He grabbed her hand and pulled her back to his bed. She gave him a stern look but his eyes were pleading for him to follow. She did. She always would.

Carefully he pulled her next to him and pulled the blanked over their heads. He was sitting crossed legged in front of her. He was setting up a small light in between them She could feel his breathing. She could see his chest rise and fall, his face dauntingly highlighted by the small light. This was ridiculous. He pulled out a couple of branches from his pocket and started to write words on the bed.

'HOLOCROM.' Again with the writing? Writing like this was going to take forever.

'WHAT IS A HOLCROM' She wrote back. Why couldn't they just use a data pad?

'DATA PAD FOR JEDI' Hera felt her breath catch in her throat. It couldn't be possible was Myriss a Jedi? Again as if everyone was reading her mind lately Kanan shook his head. No.

'IS IT DANGEROUS' He shook his head yes.

'WHAT DO WE DO?' He leaned forward until their heads were touching. His breath was warm on her nose and made her stomach flutter with a strange feeling.

'We need to call Fulcrum. Either that or we need to hide this. It's too dangerous.' His face was a mask of fear, pain, and regret. She put a hand on his shoulder wanting only to comfort him.

'I'm here for you Kanan.' She whispered. 

'I know.' He whispered back and placed an arm on his shoulder. They sat in silence for several minutes. He carefully pulled the blanket off their heads and laid his head down on her pillow. He was staring up at her ceiling quietly. He was lost in thought.

She laid down next to him still under the blanket. 'Tell me about before.' His face looked old. Older than the oldest person she knew.

'It was happy and peaceful. Even during the clone wars. There was chaos and war but there was still this peace and tranquility. After the Empire took over everything became chaos and dark. There were so many dead. Every day the numbers would climb and I would feel a creeping dread that I would be next.' His voice was barely a whisper.

'But then as every day passed I realized I was alive. I kept moving to keep myself alive and never made any friends or anyone that would recognize me or know anything more than the name I had given them. What about you? What was your life like before the Empire?' Hera looked over to her right where Kanan was lying.

'Hard. Cold. Hungry. I was always so hungry. There had been Storm Troopers on my planet when the Order was given. They were always kind to us, the children I mean. And then out of the blue they starting firing at the Jedi leaders, the captains and some of their own men. It was horrifying. Ryloth had had many massacres. But this was one of the worst. They left with our food and many children starved. I remember my uncle giving me the last of his food. He hugged me and told me to keep strong. That was the last time I saw him. I hope to be like him one day.' She felt Kanan's fingers intertwine with hers.

'I'm sure he is out there somewhere.' he whispered. 

She shook her head sadly.

'Tell me about Ryloth.' So Hera went on and told him all about the planet. She realized half way through telling him about her village that Kanan may have gone to Ryloth during his training. She turned to ask him but he was snoring softly. She smiled to herself. If only every night could be like this with them...

Quietly she kissed his cheek. She debated moving to the floor but she didn't want to wake him up. He usually woke up several times a night from nightmares. She looked at him sadly and held onto his hand as if she could shield him from his terrifying childhood and the nightmares that accompanied it.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Kanan drifted off to sleep as Hera spoke of her village. It was odd but hearing or thinking of cold and dark things generally helped him fall asleep. It must have been from his years on the run. Master Bilaba would have made him face this and find a proper way to fall asleep. Hmmm....

Hera stopped talking and he could sense something from her. It was a strong emotion, so strong it overwhelmed him. He was swimming in these intense feelings trying to understand what they meant when he felt her lips gently brush against his forehead. She murmured something and squeezed his hand. He felt her slowly fall asleep her hand still clutched around his. He realized he was holding his breath. His mind moved back to when he had realized that Myriss was standing behind him and he acted and didn't think. He had meant to simply pull her close and pretend like they were going to do whatever he would give his life to do with Hera. But than she moved into him so quickly and she lifted her head up that his head came down and well that kiss happened. Hera had yet to bring it up and he was scared if she did. Following the new lead that they were an apparent couple he pulled her into the fresher so that he could talk to her privately. She seemed to like Myriss so he didn't want to accuse him of anything until he was completely sure.  Myriss seemed like a interesting person and he didn't think deep down he would betray them but Kanan just didn't know him. He thought on it for a bit.

Kanan had moved towards the edge of the already too small bunk to give Hera her room as she slept. He knew if he got up he would wake her and she looked exhausted. Being a prisoner on her own ship was driving her insane. But as she slept she moved closer and closer to him until she was so close that he lost his train of thought. He was now looking down out her head tails and small body curved around him. Their bodies were intertwined and Kanan could feel a burning at the back of his throat. He wasn't sure what it was but he felt an intense wanting throughout his whole body. His thoughts of her were cut off when she shivered. He gently covered her with his blanket. He stayed awake just watching her, he didn't sleep, move, or even think of anything but her.

 

 

~~~

Hera awoke for the first time in pretty much all her life being warm. She was always cold. She felt warm and safe. Safe. That was odd considering her ship was being infiltrated by an unknown person. How could she be safe?

She looked up to see Kanan looking down at her. How did he get..... Oh! She must have slept really deep because she was disoriented. Hera Syndulla and Kanan Jarrus slept in the same bed. In the same room. In the same Ship. In the same Galaxy. Breathe Hera. Breathe. How did he look so beautiful in the morning? It was so unfair.

'Good Morning Sleepy.' He was giving a small shy smile at her. She felt her heart quicken.

'Good Morning love.' Love was her pet name for him that she never really thought about but suddenly with the two of them in the same bed it had a resounding echo that left her wanting. Karan was looking at her oddly. His face was peaceful and yet so intense.

'Hera. Something has been bothering me. When I was trying to get you alone to tell you about the intruder. Well not alone alone but just regular alone.' Karan's face was red and he was stuttering that was a first. Hera knew exactly what he was talking about. She felt her face flush. Was he going to say he didn't mean it? She felt her heart constrict and breathing quicken. 'I just wanted to apologize. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable in any way. I have been thinking and you made it clear how you felt about us and I didn't get a chance to apologize. I don't want you to be uncomfortable around me. I don't want to lose our friendship. It means everything to me.'

Hera felt her heart sink. Friendship. Those were not good words. She wanted to speak but nothing came out of her mouth. What had happened to the cool, collected, and romantic Kanan she had met on Gorse? Where was he? Kanan seemed to scramble away from her on the too-small bunk.

'I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable Hera.' Hera felt her heart fall further. How had such a perfect night end up with a morning so terrible?

'No. It's not... it's not...' Hera couldn't seem to put more that two words together. She felt her throat get dry.

'It's ok I understand.' Kanan was sitting on the floor next to her bunk and was looking at her with soft eyes.

'Yes.'

"What... What...' She could feel her heart move a little; like a hover cart in middle of a pod race in Mos Isley.

'You're worried about the ship. We have to find out who the intruder is. It could be deadly for all of us.' Hera felt her breath stop. No.No.No.No.

Why was this happening to her? She was finally becoming happy. She had her ship, her cause, and her man. She felt everything crumbling. How could she go from having everything to nothing? Almost nothing. Wait. If this spy infiltrated her ship they may know The Fulcrums frequency codes. She would not lose everything. Not again. Feeling as if her heart had shattered she sat up.

'Let's find this intruder.'

 

They spent the next two hours going over strategies. They needed to separate everyone and monitor everything and everyone. Hera would take Myriss, Kanan would take Zeb, and they would send Chopper to get an upgrade. She had a friend on the planet Lothal who could do a thorough service check. She wasn't going to miss anything.

'Are you sure your ok to take Myriss, Hera? I don't trust him.'

'Can we please not do this again Kanan. I'll be fine.' Kanan was putting on his shoulder pad as Hera fixed her head cap.

'You do realize what happened after the last time we had this conversation right?' He was strapping his blaster to his leg and securing his lightsaber.

'Yes and I was fine. Remember?' He looked at her with a pained expression on his face which he immediately covered with a blank face.

'You will call me if you need backup right? Hera?'

'Sure. But you will probably need the backup.' She pressed the door open and headed out to make herself a cup of Caff and drink it alone in the cockpit. A cockpit with only a broken and shattered heart and cup of Caff.


	7. Chapter 7

Hera landed the ship in a regular docking bay and paid the employee a little extra to keep her posted of any 'official' changes. She seemed to be avoiding eye contact. He had regretted having the conversation. He wasn't sure why he had it. He felt guilty when she woke up. She looked so happy and he realized that he didn't want her to harbor any negative feelings towards him. He wanted to be honest with her. Mostly honest. He watched her leave the room with an intense longing. He had never wanted anyone or anything so badly in his life. And he was alone after Order 66.

'Kanan? You there?' Kanan looked up. He was having a conversation with Myriss while Hera and Zebb had gone into some Tech shop to send Chopper for 'Upgrades.' It made him nervous no one was with the ship but Hera said she was going to have someone from the 'tech shop' run a full physical on the entire ship. Kanan had made sure to take anything he didn't want discovered by anyone. So basically his padawan braid, his lightsaber, and he had Hera hide the Holocron in her flight suit. He still couldn't believe he actually held a Holocron. Younglings weren't allowed to hold a Holocron and he never got a chance to touch one with Master Bilaba. The memory of his former master made him crash back to the present. He had lost everything once he wasn't going to lose it again.

'Sorry. I was curious about those moisture farms.'

'Oh, I was asking where you were from. Your accent is a little strange. It's like every word is a different Basic accent. Wait did you do that on purpose? How did you do that? Can you show me?' As much as he wasn't a fan of Myriss.; mainly because of the way he stared at Hera he was an all around nice guy. Which is why this whole spy thing was even more confusing. Kanan didn't sense any deceit from anyone on the ship. Whomever was the spy was really good. really really good. That scared him.

'It takes a lot of years of training and practice little grasshopper.' Myriss threw his head back and laughed. Just enough that Kanan saw burn marks on his neck. Electrical burn marks. From being tortured.

 

~~~

Some people were so frustrating. Leave it to her contact to double the price once she walked in. Lucky for her though she took Zeb who growled once and her price was the original one. While Zeb was sifting through the junk that was this entire store she quietly slid credits to her contact and requested he run a full sweep on her ship. He looked at her quietly and handed the credits back. 

'Does she know?' He whispered.

'No. I severed all contact.' He was taking her seriously now.

'I will make contact and let her know your situation. Do you need me to let her know anything else?'

'Just that we have the package and we are working to diffuse the situation. We will stay away until we have resolved our situation.' Zeb walked up behind her.

'Found power cells!' He was cheering and seemed pretty proud of himself. She felt as if her whole self was uplifted every time Zeb smiled. He had gone through the annihilation of his entire species. Every smile on his face was a small victory for Hera. She purchased the power cells and walked out with Zeb.

'What do you need power cells for?'

'Oh you know... the usual tinkering...' Hera stopped and stared at him. Since when did Zeb do 'tinkering' He could barely change a light panel. 

'OK.' She pretended as if she had brushed off his words. He seemed to regret his words and was studiously not looking at her.

 

What was going on? 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanan takes Zeb to infiltrate a Imperial base even though he told Hera he wouldn't.

Kanan lifted his hand to silence Zeb's clanking. He knew he promised Hera he would take him to the cantina and get him drunk and then question him but he was honestly too scared to go near alcohol. He would probably drink more than Zeb and the rest of the bar combined. And when he drank he usually blacked out and woke up in someone's bed the next day with headache the size of a planet.

And that was when he drank a little too much. He didn't know what he was capable of today. Questions were swirling around in his head. Would their relationship ever be the same? Did he lose her? Would she ever care for him like he did? He felt as if his armor was too small and if his head was too big for skull. He leaned against a wall for support.

This was probably why the Jedi Council did not allow relationships. Allowed. He was in middle of a Op and he couldn't concentrate. They could be gunned down because he was pining. He was pining he realized. He was mourning. Mourning something he never had. He wish he had just let it go on. The pretending they were in a relationship when they were really just in a friend based relationship. He felt an arm on his shoulder.

'You ok?'

'Yeah. Fine. Let's keep moving.'

'Sure. What are we doing exactly?' He was walking behind him as Kanan reached out with the force and felt out. Odd this was a the main reactor building. There should have been security somewhere. He felt no one.

'Kanan'

'I know. I know. Keep moving'

'No Kanan. Look.' Kanan turned around to see him looking through a now open door. Kanan peered in and felt his entire stomach turn. The soldiers from the compounds bodies were all piled up in a room. They all seemed to have various different methods of death. Some were choked, other electrocuted, and other with blaster fire. They may have all been Imperials but they were people and Kanan felt a wave of sadness. There had to be at least three hundred bodies.

'Zeb we need to go now.' They both turned and heard the door slide shut. A small voice rang out. A small haunting voice. Kanan felt it in his bones every fiber of his being yelling at him to run.

'Go? But you just got here. Why don't you come play?' They turned to see a small female Pauun standing by the doorway. They were both looking at her confused. Zeb spoke first.

'Where are your parents little one?' She turned and looked at Zeb. Zeb dropped to the ground and starting writhing around. Kanan felt the force. The dark side of the force. What was this child?

'STOP' Kanan shouted. Zeb stopped moving. Kanan moved his shaggy fur and checked his pulse. He was breathing. The little girl was now looking at Kanan. 

'Are you ready to play? We have to take turns you know. It's not polite.' She was now skipping closer to Kanan than he would have liked under any circumstance.  Kanan saw her hands flex. He started to gather the force to protect him from her next attack.

'Ok. You're right its my turn. What's your name? Where are you from?' She looked up and smiled.

'Mara. My name is Mara and I am from everywhere! But now I live on Korriban.' she flicked her wrist and Kanan felt his whole body go numb. The force made the electricity ricochet off of him and become absorbed a two rods in middle of the room. The whole room lit up.

'That makes it my turn.' He was breathless not a good thing. They were walking in circles now; watching each other like animals in a ring.

'How did you become like this? What are you?' She smiled wickedly him.

'I am what Lord Sideous made me. I am the future of children. I will be the first of my kind. We will all serve him.' she moved her hand towards him.

'Oh-no you don't. You didnt answer my question. It's is still my turn. That's how the game goes right?' She looked confusedly at him.

'I don't know. I always win.' He took a cautious step back. He could see Zeb crawling towards a computer he had to make sure she didn't notice him. What was he doing? He was terrible with computers?!

'Hmmm... thats confusing. What do you think we should do?' She looked up at him with a blank face. For a moment, just a moment she looked like a child.

 'How about you tell me the rules of the game and we will figure it out together.' She sat down and started rattling off a gruesome and bone chilling game. After about five minutes he saw Zeb waving frantically towards him. He was motioning for him to come to him.

'I have an idea. How about I hide somewhere in this room and if you find me in under two minutes you win! But you have to give me...' He saw Zeb holding up five fingers. ' five minutes to find a good hiding place in here.'

She clapped her hands with delight and buried her head in her lap. He rushed over to Zeb who punched a button and grabbed Kanan. There was a small metal encasing box and he threw Kanan in the box. He jumped in after and closed it after himself. He felt a tremor throughout his whole body and heard a muffle BOOM. 

'Zeb?'

'Overloaded the reactor core.'

'How did you blow the reactor core? You can barely change the light panels on the Phantom.' Kanan was looking at Zeb like he was a stranger.

'Chopper.' He grunted. Kanan continued to stare at him.

'He agreed to teach me if I let him shock me when I got an answer wrong. Short story I can maintain the Phantom and Ghost's electrical circuits, run diagnostics, and fix them.' He pointed to his neck. 'Chopper got a little trigger happy here.' 

Kanan felt a heavy weight leave his shoulders he didn't realize was there. He sighed. He felt pain that Zeb went through all of this so he would be of more help on the ship. He must have been scared and insecure about being thrown off of the ship. Since he was being hunted and he had no home or family it would have been fatal to him. Kanan knew better than most what it felt like to be in that position. It surprised him how deeply he felt about this.

'You didn't need to do that Zeb. We like you the way you are and we want you to stay the way you are.' He said it softly.

'I know. I just wanted to be... helpful. You guys gave me a roof and I didn't want to get in the way... you know...' He was now looking into his hands. Kanan felt shocked.

'Zeb. We would never throw you out on the streets because you couldn't change a light panel! We value you as part of our team as much as I value Hera and Chopper and as much as they value me and you. As long as you want it, you have a home with us.'

Zeb smiled. 'Ok. Now why are we actually here because there is nothing here.' Kanan felt his smile vanish.

'Karabast. Hera.' He felt the dumb realization hit him like a Hover cart. She was alone with Myriss in middle of the dessert.

'Hey, I don't want to get in between you two.' Kanan looked up confused.

'No no no. We were just trying to find out who was leaking our information off the ship. There's no me and Hera. We're just friends. Myriss... He's...' Kanan tried to get up.

'Hera.' Zeb said it almost like a growl. 'We will get out of here and we will head straight for her. We do have to wait another two minutes for depressurization.' Kanan looked at him blankly.

'It's a blast shelter of sorts. In case this facility goes boom.'

'You made it go boom?' Kanan was officially impressed. He heard the clicks of the shelter opening.

'Yep.' Zeb climbed out and Kanan followed. Everything was melted. They raced to the city center and borrowed a speeder. Once they were at the Pheonix they picked up Chopper who was given the green light. Zeb settled in next to Kanan his gun raised.

'Let's go save your girlfriend.' 

_If only._


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hera and Myriss brave the desert to find some artifact that she made up

Hera covered her face with her cloak. The winds were pretty bad this far out in the desert. Myriss seemed to be a pretty quick sand walker. Most humans had a hard time walking in desert terrain. They were usually used to the city. She had once done a protective detail for a Mandalorian for the Fulcrum. The poor girl tripped every two seconds and drank all the water. Hera hoped she was safe somewhere. 

'You want to stop for water?' Myriss was smiling at her. He was keeping the hitting on her to a minimum since he found out she and Kanan were you know a 'thing.' Which they weren't. They weren't anything. They were friends. Because friends were safe. Friends could run a rebellion and ops and not get confused about feelings and other things.

'Sure.' They made their quick stop and continued walking chatting occasionally about the heat or the planet. As they were talking about Moisture farming the whole ground shook and Hera heard a huge BOOM.

'Kanan and Zeb.' She looked terrified. Myriss looked equally concerned. 

'Let's go back.' Myriss started to turn.

'No. The Op remains the same. We have an artifact to collect. The Fulcrum needs it.' She looked ahead and saw caves.

'They should be near those caves. Let's hurry.' She wasn't getting anywhere with him. How was she supposed to know if he was a spy? She didn't think he was. She opted to take the long way around to the caves that held the 'artifact.' She wished she had taken him to a Cantina like Kanan and Zeb supposedly did. Kanan got it so much easier. She stopped. He didn't have it easier. He had it the hardest. She felt tears spring to her eyes like it always did when she imagined a little Kanan lost, alone, and, being hunted for something he couldn't control and didn't want.

'You sure you ok?' She looked up at Myriss. He seemed genuinely nice that was why this was so confusing. She motioned for him to continue. The two of them continued their trek, she could see him sweating through his armor. The two of them were heading up to a hill that overlooked the cave. They took a moment to look down Hera's sixth sense told her to wait and watch. She motioned for him to stop and wait. He opened her mouth to speak but she covered his mouth. Something wasn't right. There should have been animals in this area. There should have been something. The area was cold and empty. It was like the air was too terrified to move. She waited for about ten minutes until she saw a glint in the sand she froze the image with binoculars (Kanan had got them as a gift for her) it was a storm trooper hidden under the sand. She froze. Myriss. No one else knew where they were going. Not even she had known until they got there. She looked back into the binoculars and managed to isolate as many as 40 soldiers outside the cave. There were probably more. She had walked straight into a trap. There was no way out. She could faintly see speeders behind her. There was nowhere to run.

Kanan. Where are you Kanan? She closed her eyes and sent out a silent prayer hoping he would hear her. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was sitting on the shelf for a while. Figured i would post it for space couple week and continue it after.
> 
> Inspired by my previous work.


End file.
